Needle
by matchaball
Summary: Beware the women of the warrior class for all they touched was both beautiful and deadly. (Hinata-centric) (#SupportHinata'sKnitting on tumblr.)


**AN:** I saw this too late yesterday to submit this on time but I wanted to contribute something anyway! Written in support of tumblr user tachipaws' #supporthinatasknitting. (Also extra bonus points if anyone can catch where I referenced the quote in the summary from!) Enjoy!

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There was a common saying in court, to beware the women of the warrior class for all they touched was both beautiful and deadly.

Yamamato Koji did not hold this to be true. His relatively high position in court as the daimyo's financial advisor gave him a lofty view of the people beneath him, men and women alike, and he concluded that in his forty years of life he had yet to see a woman surpass a man in skill. Certainly he'd never seen a woman pick up a weapon and wield it proficiently. It was highly improper behaviour anyhow, and he firmly believed that they were much better off and much more useful as ornaments in the court or at home as the dutiful wife and attending mother.

News of the warrior women in Konoha, the ninja village under the Fire daimyo's jurisdiction, was smoke and mirrors. Let them indulge in their play, Koji thought, so long as they remembered their priorities and propriety.

Hyuuga Hinata, wife of the Nanadaime Hokage and current ambassador of Konoha to court, was the perfect example of a woman in her place. She was demure, soft-spoken, and polite and very easy on the eyes with her indigo hair swept elegantly back in a bun to reveal a beautifully slender neck and dressed in simple but beautiful kimonos that hugged her womanly curves and emphasized her fluidity in movement.

Koji was a little miffed that he had to negotiate with a woman in coming to an annual funding agreement between the daimyo and Konoha but he made an exception when he saw that she was at least competent enough to converse with him knowledgeably on the subject.

The fact also that she was so attractive led him to seek her out beyond their business meetings. Often he would come across her sitting demurely in the garden on one of the benches, knitting away with bright red yarn weaving expertly around lacquered wooden needles that flashed in the sun. She often carried a fan with her as well, as the summer heat made the outside temperatures rather difficult to handle at times. Koji huffed and swiped his sweating forehead with a handkerchief. He'd never admit it but he often wished for a fan as well. It was highly unseemly though for a man in his position to bear such a feminine article.

"Uzumaki-sama," he greeted her one such day in the garden, inclining his head politely at her. He was pleased to see her instant reaction of standing up and bowing politely in return.

"Yamamato-sama," she returned, a pleasant smile on her face. "Was there something you needed?"

"Only the pleasure of your company, if I may," he said smoothly. He wasn't a catch, by any means in terms of physicality with an overweight belly, balding head, and short stature but he always had a fondness for the company and vapid conversation of pretty women.

Hinata gestured to the seat next to her and sat back down, picking her knitting back up. Such a familiar gesture was not lost on Koji as he settled in the seat beside her.

"What are you knitting?" he inquired after a moment when it was apparent that she was not going to say anything.

"Something for my family," Hinata smiled and fingered the growing scarf in her hands fondly. "It keeps them close to me and reminds me of them."

"Surely they are doing fine, though children should never be without their mother for long. A mother's care is vital to their development. I trust you found a suitable nanny to look after them in your care?" Not that he really particularly cared but there was something in Hinata's demeanor that made him curious, made him want to ask and know more.

"Oh no, my husband is caring for them," Hinata laughed softly.

Koji was appalled. A man, caring for his children single-handedly? The Nanadaime Hokage no less? Surely she knew her place better than that! Eyebrows pinching together severely, he turned to reprimand her but was interrupted when she delicately asked, "I see you've received a few ambassadors from Kumo the other day."

"Ah yes, yes, part of a delegation that comes every year. Nothing to concern yourself over," he brushed her off.

"A delegation that includes a medical corp?" Hinata asked mildly, her attention mostly on the knitting in front of her.

"Yes, it was rather strange," Koji mused, more to himself than anything else. Hinata almost became more background noise to him as he thought back to the party of politicians and ninja that had arrived a week ago. "Typically they come to renew trade agreements between Fire and Lightning but I haven't heard of any talk of establishing any sort of medical program or institution up between the two nations."

"You must be well-informed in all matters of the court, Yamamato-sama," Hinata complimented. "Surely Kimoto-dono thought it necessary to inform you on matters that were most pertinent to you."

"As the financial advisor, all matters are pertinent to me," Koji grunted, annoyed that he couldn't remember Kimoto mentioning anything at all about the Kumo medic-nin. "You needn't worry that their presence may affect any of our financial negotiations as they are an entirely separate matter."

"I'm afraid, even in this day and age of peace, there are some things that never change," Hinata sighed delicately. "It is highly improper to approach the financial advisor of the Fire daimyo and the ambassador of Konoha in such a manner."

Koji frowned in confusion at his companion, unsure if he heard her right before a subtle rustle from the bushes around them marked the presence of three unmarked nin. Their white coloured shinobi attire gave away their allegiance and Koji didn't miss the hungry looks they gave Hinata as they noted her eyes.

"Yamamato-sama, please kindly remove yourself from the situation," Hinata straightened up, her knitting held tightly in her hands.

"You cannot possibly take them on, you're only a woman!" he blustered.

"Yamamato-sama," he was astonished and a little afraid to see her laugh, with not a trace of fear across her soft features. "No one is 'just' anything, particularly a woman with a family she needs to come home to."

She moved so quickly and gracefully that Koji didn't even realize she was no longer in front of his eyes for a few seconds. He blinked and twisted his head rapidly, trying to discern where she'd gone and a pained cry from one of the Kumo nin drew his attention.

For such a bright and heavy kimono, Hinata moved so fluidly that her movements were impossible for Koji's eyes to track. He could only catch the colourful whip of her sleeves she she intercepted thrown shuriken. The closed quarters of the garden proved to be to her advantage as the Kumo nin found their movements limited by the space but Hinata weaved between them without hesitation. She didn't hesitate at all in coming up close and personal to them, reaching out to jab at their tenketsu points with skilled fingers.

She hissed in pain and shock as an electric current coursed through her body after one such jab and the Kumo nin chuckled menacingly. Hinata didn't miss a beat and whirled back around to confront him again, her fingers glowing sharply with her chakra.

The Kumo nin brought his hands up in a seal, his two comrades mimicking his movements in preparation of a combined jutsu meant to incapacitate her but as Hinata struck his arm, the finger he'd be expecting was suddenly a wooden knitting needle driven deeply in his shoulder and skewering through several tenketsu points.

He screamed in agony as Hinata let a surge of chakra travel from her fingertips and through the needle, her chakra invasively surging through his system and scrambling his chakra control. A secondary surge, this time the green of medical chakra, fried his nervous system quicker than he could blink and he collapsed in a boneless heap to the ground, blacking out in his pain.

Even before he hit the ground, Hinata was already ducking around to handle the two other Kumo nin, her second knitting needle finding its target as she threw it with frightening accuracy towards the chest of one of the nin. Knowing what to expect, the Kumo nin immediately grasped the protruding weapon to draw it out but stopped abruptly when it was clear the needle was the only thing keeping him from bleeding out. She'd hit an internal organ.

Hinata took advantage of his hesitation by hitting him with her Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms. He dropped like a stone to the ground and she withdrew her knitting needle after searing the surface of his wound shut to prevent him from bleeding out but not from him being in too much pain to move.

The last Kumo nin was frantically retreating, clearly unprepared by how outmatched he was. She dealt with him the quickest by knocking him out by thrusting chakra needles at points in his legs. He crumbled instantly, his legs no longer able to support him, and she was on him quicker than a cat on a mouse, hitting a pressure point hard at the back of his neck and rendering him unconscious.

"I apologize you had to be a witness to that, Yamamato-sama," Hinata paused as she caught her breath and straightened with care before calmly drawing a handkerchief from her kimono to wipe the blood away from her knitting needles. "I'm afraid I will have to excuse myself and inform the Hokage to send some reinforcements to aide me in transporting them back to Konoha."

Koji couldn't reply. The blood drained from his face and a cold sweat broke out across his forehead as he took in the sight of beautiful, demure Hinata covered in speckles of blood and nonchalantly tucking the lacquered knitting needles she'd just stabbed into a man not a moment before into her obi, where they rested and gleamed innocently in the sun.

"I assure you this will have no impact on your negotiations with Lightning," she smiled reassuringly at him. Koji did not find the smile at all comforting. "Kimoto-dono and I had planned for an intervention like this for quite some time, though I did not anticipate you becoming a bystander in the course of events."

Koji tried to respond but all that he could manage was a few squeaks. His throat worked valiantly in an attempt of speech before he gave up, only staring hopelessly at Hinata who stood in concern in front of him.

"Camomile tea will help," she decided, and took the liberty of gently taking his elbow to lead him back inside. Once at the entrance of the garden, she signaled for an attendant to come help her. "I'm afraid Yamamato-sama is feeling rather unwell at the moment. Would you be so kind as to procure him some restorative tea and escort him back to his rooms?"

The attendant bowed and murmured, "Of course, Uzumaki-sama." Hinata passed a still-shocked Koji onto the attendant and nodded respectfully at them.

"Yamanato-sama, I will see you again tomorrow morning for our meeting. I hope we will be able to come to an agreement soon," Hinata nodded encouragingly at him.

Koji shuddered imperceptibly and her words jolted him back into speaking. "O-of course, Uzumaki-sama. Of course. I don't foresee an issue with what we've been discussing. I'm sure tomorrow we will be able to come to an agreement also." Easy on the eyes Hinata might've been, but she was steel wrapped in silk that Koji wanted no further part in.

As Hinata turned around to enter the garden once more, Koji's eyes caught the gleam of her knitting needles and the trail of bright red yarn hanging from the edge of the obi where it waved almost mockingly in front of several blood splatters on the hem of her kimono. The contrast of the glaring reminder of her grisly actions and the delicate beauty of the blooming flowers and summer sun that framed her graceful figure as she walked away from him was altogether jarring and unsettling.

As he allowed himself to be led away, the phrase b _eware the women of the warrior class for all they touched was both beautiful and deadly_ was the last thing that rang resoundingly in his mind.

Hinata only hummed as she picked up the knitting she dropped, careful as to not disturb the loops at the end waiting for the needle to slide back through. She summoned Kaminari and relayed the news of the Kumo captives to the attentive fox. Kaminari huffed in laughter when she saw the three unconscious and incapacitated Kumo nin lying on the ground before poofing out of sight and away to Konoha, to Naruto.

Hinata slid her knitting back on the needles and decided to sit back down on the bench and knit while she waited for a response. Her knitting needles clicked in steady staccato and flashed brightly in the sun, the bright red yarn weaving expertly under her fingers.

Kaminari appeared after a few moments, her three white dipped red tails whipping lazily behind her.

"Naruto-san said he'll send an ANBU squad to help you out," the fox summons purred. She tilted her head curiously as she considered the bright ball of yarn, her large ears twitching in consideration. "You know, I always wondered why you liked to bring your knitting things along on missions."

"Well this particular scarf is for Himawari, since she tore hers in her last mission," Hinata laughed as she brushed her hands over her knitting. "It reminds me of home. And Tenten's been helping me as well."

"I didn't know Tenten knitted."

Hinata smiled amusedly. "She doesn't."


End file.
